1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to polymeric articles having a textured surface and frosted appearance and to resins for producing such articles.
2. Related Art Statement
In lighting applications, and point of purchase, and cosmetic/decorative markets, people are always looking for new and innovative products that can provide flexibility for designs and fabrications at a competitive cost.
Presently, there is not a successful plastic product in this market that can be used in a one-step process and provide the properties and appearance needed to replace sand blasted glass material. It would be desirable to have a resin that could be used for sheet and profile extrusion applications and that creates a product with a surface texture and frosted appearance.
Such a plastic material could reduce the production and fabrication costs and provide design flexibility for end users. Similar thermoplastic products are traditionally made by surface treatment, such as, sand blasting and surface pattern fabrication, and by adding inorganic filler, such as, barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, silica, etc. Such inorganic fillers are normally difficult to disperse evenly in polymer matrix material, reduce greatly the light transmission of the polymer, and do not generate the desired surface texture. Also, the filler particles have a tendency to deteriorate physical properties of the polymer.
Fine particles (i.e. less than 15 micrometers) of a copolymer made by an emulsion polymerization process are sometimes added into a plastic matrix to generate a light diffusion effect for display and light panel applications, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,954. However, this type of product tends to soften the polymer matrix and can not produce the textured surface so often preferred by the end user.